Want to Turn 1,500 dollars into 23 New Jobs?

Looking for new ways to generate additional sales? Want to get a great return on your sales and marketing investment? In Brad Humphrey's new "Tailgate Talk" column in August Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction he urges contractors to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when sales were made not by direct mail and not by e-mail, but by what Brad calls "shoe leather marketing."

Humphrey, who is president of Pinnacle Development Group, offers tips on why "shoe leather marketing" can be so effective and also offers insights into how best to approach it. Here's one of his success stories:

Humphrey says he has been working with a southwestern contractor and got a little creative in pursuing this "shoe leather marketing" approach: To enhance the contacts made by the owner and sales people, the contractor hired part-time a local college student for $10 per hour, and even puts him in one of his own company vehicles.

"The 19-year-old spends 15 to 20 hours a week blitzing areas in the contractor's market area, going almost door to door. He introduces himself, the contractor's company, and leaves behind a brochure -- all while getting as much personal information from the prospect as possible," Humphrey says.

Humphrey says the thinking in this experiment was the contractor would be able to increase his leads by between 100 and 300 a week.

"If we have a closing rate of 30% that means that we may be giving ourselves another shot at 30-90 more jobs, at least that many more bid opportunities than we might have had before," Humphrey says. "Thus far the college student has made more than 1,000 contacts, turning almost 450 of those into follow-up calls from the contractor. To date he's closed 23 more jobs!" Humphrey says. "Think about this: For a little more than $1,000 in wages, about $200-$300 in brochures and business cards given out, and about $300-$400 in gas expenses, my friend has increased his scheduled jobs by 23."

To learn more about Brad's take on "shoe leather marketing" keep an eye out for "Tailgate Talk" in the August/September issue of Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction.